by Father Giovanni Calcara op
While social media directs our attention to the economic maneuver of the Italian Government, warning that “we all must make sacrifices”, Israel and Russia act without any respect for international law, specifying that the thousands of victims are only the cause of “collateral effects” to kill terrorists. Meanwhile, the Holy See presents a Plan B for peaceful coexistence between Jews and Palestinians, ignored like all the appeals of Pope Francis. It seems to go unnoticed, amidst the cynicism of a government majority which, between demagogy and populist principles, has effectively domesticated our human conscience, claiming principles and ideas to be exported, they say, also to other European governments.
These are, as everyone knows, the infamous Reception and Identification Centers built in Albania, with exorbitant costs borne by us taxpayers. Just to remember some figures provided by ISPI: 800 million until 2028, 3 million for identification centers, 200 million for connections, 30 million for ship expenses.
“Italians first”, a slogan that some still have the courage to propose again; well yes, first the rights of citizens, especially the elderly and all the vulnerable groups (young people, women, large families, disabled people, etc.), and then the ideological demagogy that borders on madness. How can we justify the waste of so much money, when it was enough to strengthen the reception structures already existing in Italy? With what courage do we ask for sacrifices from families already harassed by laws that do not help to solve real problems such as health, housing, the security of an income, the possibility of treatment without having to face the journeys of hope? What service is rendered to the Nation when, in the face of ideologies, respect for human rights is put aside which, as Giorgio La Pira said, are natural, inviolable and unquestionable? Why can’t we be more indignant about all this? Forgetting what Saint John Paul II taught: “One of the most serious sins of our society is the inability and unwillingness to eliminate those structures of sin that offend man”.
The sector organizations themselves, as well as the voluntary sector, the trade unions and all those political groups that champion those rights mentioned above, seem to slavishly repeat press releases, launches of initiatives which are now just blunt weapons, bordering on tiredness and inability to propose, in addition to protest, also proposals.
The means to convey ideas are there: all the platforms that social media offer us could be the “good virus” with which to flood cell phones to awaken consciences and have the courage, as Pope Francis teaches, to indicate the alternative of coexistence among peoples, as the only true strategy to be pursued; conscientious objection, including fiscal objection, to military spending; the diffusion of fair trade; the circular and non-waste economy; the integral development of man and respect for his rights.
Between utopia and reality, in the middle, said Giorgio La Pira, there is our personal commitment and the courage of our choices. The decline of the human is not a discussion that concerns only the religious sphere of the person, but the destiny and future of humanity itself and of that civilization of rights, for the realization of which men and women of every lineage, language and religion. Prophecy and denunciation, courage and the strength of good, faith and reason: everything is useful if placed at the service of the person and their rights.